Japan Earthquake: Aftermath

Three days after a massive earthquake that is now estimated to have registered a 9.0 magnitude, Japanese rescue crews are being joined by foreign aid teams in the search for survivors in the wreckage. Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan has called the disaster nation's worst crisis since World War II, as the incredible scope of the destruction becomes clear and fears mount of a possible nuclear meltdown at a failing power plant. It is still too early for exact numbers, but the estimated death toll may top 10,000 as thousands remain unaccounted for. Gathered here are new images of the destruction and of the search for survivors. [This is a follow-up to an earlier entry: Earthquake in Japan] More images will be added as they come in.

Smoke billows from an oil refinery with submerged rice paddy in foreground following a massive tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan, Saturday, March 12, 2011.#

Oil leaked from a Nippon Petroleum Refining Co. oil factory float at Shiogama bay, Miyagi prefecture, Japan, Saturday, March 12, 2011, a day after one of Japan's strongest earthquakes ever recorded hit the country's east coast.#

Police officers wearing respirators guide people to evacuate away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant following an evacuation order for residents who live in within a 10 km (6.3 miles) radius from the plant after an explosion in Tomioka Town in Fukushima Prefecture March 12, 2011. Japanese authorities battling to contain rising pressure in nuclear reactors damaged by a massive earthquake were forced to release radioactive steam from one plant on March 12, 2011 after evacuating tens of thousands of residents from the area. Tokyo Electric Power Co also said fuel may have been damaged by falling water levels at the Daiichi facility, one of its two nuclear power plants in Fukushima, some 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.#